Accountability for Collective Wrongdoing

Ideas of collective responsibility challenge the doctrine of individual responsibility that is the dominant paradigm in law and liberal political theory. However, little attention is given to the consequences of holding groups accountable for wrongdoing. Groups are not amenable to punishment in the way that individuals are. Can they be punished --- and it so, how --- or are other remedies available? The topic crosses the borders of law, philosophy, and political science, and in this book, specialists in all three areas contribute their perspectives. They examine the limits of individual criminal liability in addressing atrocity, the meanings of punishment and responsibility, the distribution of group punishment to a group''s members, and the means through which collective accountability can be expressed. In doing so, they reflect on the legacy of the Nuremberg Trials, the philosophical understanding of collective responsibility, and the place of collective accountability in international political relations.